Church's sole member keeps historic building alive

Saturday

Jun 28, 2008 at 12:01 AMJun 28, 2008 at 7:08 PM

The old St. Paul’s Reformed Church in southern Stark County, Ohio, has no flock, no pastor. No Sunday services. No hymns sung. No organ music. But St. Paul’s has Howard Keith. And he has kept St. Paul’s alive, its only active member left. The property deed makes him the owner.

Benjamin Duer

The old St. Paul’s Reformed Church has no flock, no pastor. No Sunday services. No hymns sung. No organ music.

Much like the graves laying in its shadow, St. Paul’s has seen its livelier days.

It’s the one of the last remaining relics of Smoketown, a forgotten spot in southern Stark County, Ohio.

But St. Paul’s has something -- or someone -- the cemetery doesn’t have.

It has Howard Keith.

And he has kept St. Paul’s alive, its only active member left. The property deed makes him the owner.

“I don’t consider myself the owner, but I take care of it,” he said, shying away any titles, a slight smile emerging from under his mustache.

A former pastor called him a good man.

“I’m just trying to keep it as much as I can, as original as I can. It’s a landmark,” Keith said.

Built in 1913, an example of rural Late Gothic Revival architecture, St. Paul’s roots began in 1835 as part of another church. The Reformed group built their first church in 1845 on the same site of present-day St. Paul’s. A fire destroyed the original church. St. Paul’s replaced it.

Hub of Smoketown

St. Paul’s is in a rural area known as “Smoketown,” three miles south of Navarre, Ohio.

Smoketown once had a sawmill, blacksmith shop, general store and gas station. All are gone now. Stark County officials do not recognize the community on present-day maps. Google does.

At the center of this tight community was St. Paul’s church at state Route 21 and Crestline Street SW.

Keith described St. Paul’s as “the hub of this (Smoketown) community,” in its heyday.

“We had functions here. Box socials. Halloween parties. It was just a community tightly bonded together by a farm group.”

Keith, 75, grew up the son of a farmer and gas station owner in Smoketown. His parents were the late Clyde and Ida Keith, living a country block away from the church.

Howard Keith followed in his father’s footsteps as a young man, tilling soil and pumping gas. Later, he served this country for two years in the Army. His military life behind him, Keith returned to Stark County. Here, he earned a living drilling water wells for 47 years as an employee for Ohio Drilling. Then he retired.

Keith wasn’t always alone; a congregation did exist. At one time, its numbers ranked in the hundreds. But church members slowly moved away or passed away, leaving St. Paul’s without a reason to stay open.

Members such as Albert Feucht, Jean Cunningham and Bonnie Bailey were church leaders in the 1990s.

A century earlier, names such as Samuel Mase, Sarah Ann Dinius and the Leighley family sought prayer and worship in this church.

Mase, Dinius and Leighley are just a few of Smoketown’s finest who are buried in the cemetery behind St. Paul’s.

“This is my roots,” Keith said, his hands in his pockets with the church lurking over his shoulder. The church and cemetery are the only landmarks that carry the Smoketown name.

Without a congregation, Keith renamed the church St. Paul’s Community Church at Smoketown.

The retired Rev. William Y. McGovern Sr., former pastor at St. Paul’s, cherished his 15 years on the pulpit.

“It meant everything to me,” he said. “I loved the community.”

Of course, Keith still does.

Inner faith

Keith has spent his own money and used a depleting trust fund to pay for upkeep at St. Paul’s. He checks on the old chapel every couple of weeks, making sure the grounds are mowed. He hires a crew to cut grass.

He’s replaced shingles on the aging roof and kept the furnace on in the winter. He pulls weeds. Inside, Keith has kept the church relatively clean -- except for a musty scent, it has the type of smell you’d find in an attic, and some dust.

There are 20 long, dark brown benches; 10 on either side. Bibles and copies of “Favorite Hymns of Praise” are stored neatly in bench shelves. Simple white walls and a worn red carpet frame the benches, keeping your attention on the altar.

A portrait of the “Last Supper” is mounted on the left side of the altar. A wooden plaque for Sunday School attendance is on the right.

And there are stained glass windows on every side, a multi-color pallet and varying designs, allowed plenty of sunlight in to illuminate the room.

“It’s beautiful,” McGovern said. “It just gives you a good atmosphere.”

Keith has opened the church to two weddings since 2006, the only services of any type in many years.

He does not charge any fee for weddings, but accepts donations to help pay for upkeep.

“I’m not charging anything. I’m not making anything. I’m just glad to be able to keep it as long as I’m going,” Keith said.

Historic place

Helping his cause is the fact that St. Paul’s is on the National Register of Historic Places.

It took nearly three years, but Keith’s wife, Carol, got the church listed because of its architecture. National Register properties may qualify for grants, and the owner can be eligible for a 20 percent tax credit on rehabilitation projects.

Township Road Superintendent Mike Struble has taken an interest in the preservation of the church.

“I take care of the cemetery (now),” he said.

Struble said he would help keep the church alive, if Keith needed him.

“I love history. I love to see old stuff preserved. I would be willing to do whatever I could do,” he said.

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